FIRST BACKLAND WORLD CUP VICTORY OF THE SEASON

BC TOURING FEB 05, 2019

FIRST BACKLAND WORLD CUP VICTORY OF THE SEASON

BC TOURING FEB 05, 2019

BC Touring

FEB 05, 2019

The ski resort Super Devoluy in the south east of France was the location of this season’s third Skimountaineering-World Cup. Astonishing performances were delivered by the Atomic Backland athletes. Iwan Arnold won the Sprint race, Davide Magnini celebrated a victory in the Espoir category of the Individual race.

The Atomic athletes are gaining momentum with every World Cup race. At the event in France, Iwan Arnold was able to demonstrate his strengths and triumphed in a dramatic Sprint race. Another top-10 result in the sprint comes from Austria’s Daniel Zugg. German Toni Lautenbacher has participated in the World Cup again for the first time after an illness. He finished tenth and proved his strong physical shape. The Italian athlete Davide Magnini has left his respiratory problems behind him and, right off the bat, won the Espoir category of the Individual race. In the overall ranking, this equals an excellent seventh place.

Iwan Arnold
For the sprint specialist everything matched well, including the team work with a Swiss mate: ‘Together with my colleague Arno Lietha, I was able to gain ground and establish some distance ahead of the others, we closed the tracks and positioned ourselves right in the front. Standing on the podium with a colleague now is wonderful, it makes the victory even better.’ And with the eleventh place in a tight Individual race, this World Cup event was one of the most successful for the athlete from area of Wallis.

Daniel Zugg
Vorarlberg’s Daniel Zugg successfully completed another great Sprint race, he has positioned himself in the Top-10 repeatedly this season: ‘Unfortunately, I messed up the change in the semi-final completely. In the downhills, I was super fast today, I could even overtake the Italian Robert Antonioli twice. Sadly, I still couldn’t skate properly because of my damaged shoulder, but it’s getting better with every race.’

Toni Lautenbacher
After repeated, longer absences due to illnesses, the German evinced his good shape with ranking 10th in the Sprint race: ‘For the first Sprint of the season, this is quite OK. The endurance is still missing, but that’s what I will work on until the World Championships.’

Davide Magnini
The 21-year old Italian proved his dominance in the youth category Espoir: ‘In the uphills, I felt quite well, even though my chest is still hurting because of the continuous coughing in the past weeks. In the downhills, I lost several seconds. In the flat passages, I lack a couple of kilos compared to the other athletes.’ Now, there is a two-week break on the schedule for the Atomic Backland athletes, before the World Cup in China is coming up from the 20th to the 22nd February 2019.